The first task in SEO is keyword research, and it is the most hurried. You choose a phrase that appears to be trending. You select a phrase that seems to be trending. You post a long message. Then you wait. A month later, the page gets hardly any traffic, or the traffic that visits the page does not call, make purchases, or complete forms.
This is typically due to the wrong keyword for the business and not because the writing itself is poor.
What Is Keyword Research, and Why Does It Matter?
The process of researching keywords involves identifying the words and phrases people enter into search engines and selecting the ones your business can rank for and benefit from. It gives you what to write, which page it’s on, and what topics to start with.
It’s important because all other SEO activities rely on it. Everything from content, page titles, and internal links to even your service pages begins with the keywords you choose. If you are new to SEO, check out our guide on what SEO is first, and then return here.
Three things are determined by good research:
Content: what your site should be talking about
Page types: Blog post, Service page, Product page
Order: What pages to create first and which can wait.
Get this right, and your effort goes toward pages that can win. Get it wrong, and you spend months on content nobody searches for.
4 Numbers to Check Before You Pick a Keyword
Every keyword tool shows you numbers. Before you use them, learn what each one means and where it misleads.
Search Volume
Search volume is the estimated number of times people search a keyword in one month. It is an average, and it changes by country. A keyword with 10,000 searches in the US may have far fewer in India, so always set your tool to the country you sell in.
The common mistake is to chase the biggest number. High volume often means high competition, and many of those searchers are only looking for information.
There’s a second thing hidden in volume. If a page is ranking for one keyword, it will typically be ranking for dozens of other keywords that are related. So it’s possible that a keyword that receives 200 searches will still drive more traffic than that number. Others refer to it as “traffic potential. If possible, view it.
Keyword Difficulty
Keyword difficulty (KD) is a score that estimates how hard it is to reach page one. Most tools base it mostly on the links pointing to the pages that already rank.
Treat KD as a rough guide only. A new site with few links will struggle with high scores. To get a real picture, open the search results and look at who ranks. If the top spots belong to huge brands with years of content, that is a hard fight no matter what the score says.
Search Intent
Search intent is the reason behind a search. There are four common types:
- Informational: the person wants to learn something, like “What is keyword research?”
- Commercial: the person is comparing options, like “best keyword research tools.”
- Transactional: the person is willing to take action, such as “hire an SEO company in Delhi.”
- Navigational: the person is looking for a particular website, such as “Google Keyword Planner login.”
The type of page that can rank is determined by intent. Even if a blog post is excellent, if Google only displays product pages for a keyword, that blog post will not win.
Business Value
This is the number you will not get from any tool. Ask a simple question: If someone is looking for this word/phrase and they end up on my page, could they be a customer or a lead?
A keyword that gets 500 searches from buyers is more valuable than a keyword that gets 5,000 searches from students. Evaluate your business’s value based on what you know about your customers.
How to Do Keyword Research: 6 Steps
Here is the full process. Follow the steps in order the first time. After that you can adjust it to fit how you work.
Step 1: Start With Your Goals and Seed Keywords
Record the tasks to be performed at the site before opening any tool. More leads? More online sales? Do there seem to be more requests for one service? The goal changes, which are the keywords that are important.
Then, write down your seed words. These are short, broad phrases that tell about what you do. The initial steps of a digital marketing agency could involve “SEO,” “PPC,” “social media marketing,” and “website design.
These are the places to look for seeds:
- Identify the primary services or products that you sell.
- Ask your sales team to provide you with information about the questions your customers ask when they call.
- Read your customer emails and reviews for the exact words that people use.
- See the page titles of your competitor.
Customers might say something different than you. The business owner can say “search engine optimization,” and the customer can type in “how to get my shop on Google. Both are valuable.
Step 2: Expand the List With Keyword Tools
Now add each of the seed keywords to a keyword tool. The tool will provide hundreds of related phrases and their difficulty and volume.
Look for three kinds of ideas. Longer phrases with three or more words are called long-tail keywords, and they are often easier to rank for. Question phrases such as “how to” and “what is” fit blog posts well. Phrases with words like “best,” “price,” or “services” tend to come from people closer to a decision.
If your business is located in one city or area, include the city/area in your seeds. Phrases such as “SEO company in Delhi” are more specific and less competitive and are used by people who are ready to act. We have written an article about local SEO that covers how to create pages around them.
Consider what is already working for you as well. Open Google Search Console, navigate to the Performance report, and view the Queries tab. You’ll frequently see keywords that your site already ranks for on page two or three. These are easy wins, as a small improvement will move them up.
Another good source is your competitors. Go to a tool and type in a competitor’s website to find out what keywords are driving traffic. This will display topics you may have missed.
Record all of the good phrases in a separate spreadsheet. You’ll filter it later.
Step 3: Check Search Intent in the Live Results
This step takes a few minutes per keyword and saves weeks of wasted work.
Enter the keyword in Google. Examine the first page. Ask yourself:
- Are they blog posts, service pages, product pages, or videos?
- Do they have short answers or long guides?
- Does it have a list format, like “10 best tools”?
- Do the results look recent?
You need to have the same page as Google does. If page one is full of service pages, write a service page. If it’s filled with guides, write a guide.
That’s where a lot of teams fall down. They look for a keyword that has decent traffic and think, “The blog post will do.” Then they discover that the search results only bring them pages that sell something. At this point, you’ll want to organize your keywords into two groups: blog posts and service pages.
Step 4: Check Difficulty and Traffic Potential
Now see how difficult each keyword is. Apply the KD score of the tool as a first filter, and then open the top results and make your own judgment.
Ask some questions. Are the pages of well-known and reliable websites? Are they detailed or not? Does your site offer something they don’t, like local knowledge, original data, or real client results?
KD is based on links, so it’s good to understand how links are obtained. In this beginner’s guide to off-page SEO, you will learn about the techniques that can help you acquire the authority necessary for more competitive keywords.
If you run a newer site, a sensible starting range is keywords with modest volume and lower difficulty. Once your site earns more trust, move up to harder terms.
Do not throw out low-volume keywords too fast. A phrase with 100 monthly searches and clear buying intent can beat a phrase with 5,000 searches and no intent.
Step 5: Rate and Prioritize
Now you have a long list, but you cannot write everything at once. A quick rating shows you which keywords to write first.
Give every keyword four ratings from 1 to 5:
- Volume: How many people search for it? Check your tool. 1 is very few, and 5 is a lot.
- Difficulty: How hard is it to rank? Check your tool’s KD score. 1 is easy; 5 is very hard.
- Intent fit: Is the searcher close to buying? 1 means they only want to learn; 5 means they are ready to hire or buy.
- Business value: Would this visitor help your business? 1 means barely, and 5 means a lot.
Start with keywords that rate high on intent fit and business value and low on difficulty. Volume comes last, because a small keyword that brings buyers beats a big one that brings only readers.
Step 6: Map Each Keyword to a Page and Group Similar Ones
The final step is to convert your list into a plan. Assign one home page to each key word. Afterwards, cluster words that have the same meaning and place them on the same page.
For instance, “keyword research,” “how to do keyword research,” and “keyword research for beginners” can all be part of a single comprehensive guide. They don’t require 3 posts.
If you write two pages for the same search, they compete with each other. This problem is called keyword cannibalization, and it can hold both pages back.
For each group, determine the page type in Step 3, record the primary keyword and some secondary keywords, and enter them into your content calendar. Make internal links at this time as well. Blog posts need to link to the service page they are supporting, and similar posts should link to each other.
If a keyword has a page, put it in the places where search engines will look first: the title, headings, URL, and opening paragraph. Our on-page optimization guide will tell you where to place each keyword.
Free Keyword Research Tools: What Each One Is Best For
You do not need to pay to begin. These free options cover most of what a small site needs.
| Tool | Best for | Main limit |
| Google Keyword Planner | Finding keyword ideas and rough volume from Google’s own data | Needs a Google Ads account, and volumes may show as wide ranges if you are not running ads |
| Google Search Console | Seeing which searches already bring people to your site | Only shows keywords your site already gets impressions for |
| Google Trends | Comparing interest over time and spotting seasonal topics | Shows relative interest, not search volume |
| Google autocomplete and “People also ask” | Finding real questions and long phrases people type | No volume or difficulty numbers |
| Ubersuggest (free plan) | Volume, difficulty, and competitor keyword ideas in one place | Free searches per day are limited |
A good free workflow looks like this. Start with Keyword Planner and autocomplete to build the idea list. Add your own Search Console queries. Use trends to check whether a topic rises or falls through the year. Then use a free plan of a tool like Ubersuggest to check difficulty.
Keyword research is only one job in SEO. For tools that also cover site audits, backlinks, and tracking, see our roundup of the 10 best SEO tools.
Why the Same Keyword Shows Different Numbers
You’ll see that two tools provide two different volumes for the same keyword. This is normal. Each tool collects and estimates its data in its own way, and some show ranges while others show a single number.
Never use any single number as an exact number. Use the numbers to compare keywords against each other inside the same tool. That comparison is what matters.
Tools for Keyword Research: When Paid Tools Are Worth It
When you are learning or if you have one small site, you can use free tools. When you need more speed, more data, or more sites, then paid tools make sense.
Here are some of the things that a paid tool brings:
- Larger keyword databases and easier difficulty ratings.
- The number of people who are searching for each keyword.
- Competitor gap analysis—lists of keywords that your competitors rank for that you don’t
- Rank tracking, to see if your efforts are moving pages up.
- The ability to group keywords by search results, saving hours of time.
The two names that any SEO team is familiar with are Ahrefs and Semrush. These each include keyword research, competitor checks, and site audits. There are some smaller tools that only target keywords and are less expensive.
A fair rule: Only pay when you reach a limit. Wait until you have more good ideas with free tools. Once you begin to lose data or spend too much time checking manually, a paid plan will be worth its price.
6 Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid
- Chasing volume only: If the searchers don’t buy, then a large number is not very significant. Look at intent and business value first.
- Not performing the live search check: Tools can’t tell you what Google will reward today. Only the results page can.
- Writing two pages per one search: This weakens your strength. Assign one page to each set of keywords.
- Selecting terms that you can’t serve: If you don’t have it in your business, a top ranking won’t be of any use to you.
- The failure to pay attention to personal data: It is not as if no one knows what works today; it is already visible in Search Console. A lot of teams never look.
- One and done. Search habits change. Check your list at least once or twice a year.
If you have pages that are not ranking on your site, some of these errors may be to blame. If you’re not ranking on Google, our post on why your website isn’t ranking on Google might help you identify others. If you’re beginning from scratch with a limited budget, check out our SEO roadmap for startups.
Why Choose DI Infotech for Keyword Research?
Keyword research is not a quick process, and getting it wrong can cost months of content efforts. We do this work for businesses every week at DI Infotech, and we create each keyword plan based on your goals, not search volume.
We select keywords for business, not traffic. We look at search intent and business value first, which means that you are targeting people who are ready to call, buy, or fill in a form. We also check what Google displays for each of the keywords, so we know what type of page to create before we put pen to paper. Our tools are configured for the right country, and we also have local and city-specific phrases such as “SEO company in Delhi” that attract local customers.
We also map keywords to pages, so no two pages compete for the same search. You get a clear list of what to write first, not a spreadsheet with thousands of phrases. If you need more than the list, our SEO services in Delhi cover content, on-page work, and tracking. If you run an online store, see our e-commerce SEO services.
Ready to find keywords that bring the right visitors? Talk to our SEO team and we will build a keyword plan for your business.
Keyword Research Checklist and Template
Use this list each time you run a new round of research.
- Write your business goal for the next 3 months
- Write 10-20 keywords related to your services and customer questions
- Add 2 or 3 more tools to the list.
- Retrieve your existing queries in Search Console.
- Check the live search results for intent
- Rate volume, intent fit, business value, and difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5
- Work out the priority score
- Assign each keyword group a page and a page type.
- Include the top 10 on your content calendar
FAQs
How long does keyword research take?
A first round will take a few hours to a couple of days for a small site. The majority of time is spent on checking the live search results. More is required at larger sites with a multitude of services. Schedule a review of the list every 6 months.
How many keywords should one page target?
Try to target one primary keyword and a few close variations. If you have a page that covers a topic well, then you don’t have to list dozens of phrases because they will all be able to rank for that page. Limit the number of topics on a single page.
Is free keyword research enough?
Yes, for most small sites and for those who are learning. Free tools include ideas, rough volume, and your own search data. If you’re managing multiple sites or have a greater need for competitor data, you might want to consider using a paid tool later.
What is a good keyword difficulty for a new site?
There is no fixed number, since every tool scores differently. As a starting point, target lower-difficulty keywords and check who ranks. If small or new sites appear on page one, you have a fair chance.
How often should I redo keyword research?
Check it at least once or twice a year. Also do it when you add a new service, enter a new market, or when traffic is decreasing. People’s search habits change and so should your list.
Final Thoughts
Good keyword research comes down to a short loop. Know your goal. Find ideas. Check what Google shows. Score what you find. Give each keyword one page.
Start small. Choose one service, perform the six steps, and create the top three pages of your list. Then observe and repeat the measurements.
If you would rather have an expert team do the heavy lifting, talk to us. We will help you find keywords that bring visitors who turn into customers. Before you hire any agency, read how to choose the right SEO company in Delhi so you know which questions to ask.
